The Lost Artist: An artist spreading a message

TLA (The Lost Artist) was born and raised in Carol City. When he was growing up he did not want to be an artist because he didn’t think you could make a living off of it. After graduating High school he was still a little confused about what he wanted to do with art until his mom had a heart to heart that would change his life forever. She told him with tears streaming down her face, to follow his dreams so he wouldn’t wake up every morning miserable like her. After this he started to meet with other artist and came to the realization that he could take his family out of poverty and mostly take his mother out of her inner turmoil. During his continued education he met an artist by the name of Brandon Dudley. Brandon then introduced TLA to his future mentor GG. His mentor has taught him more than he had learned in school. He taught him the ropes as well as the dos and don’ts of the industry. Throughout his mentorship he picked up on GG’s artistic abilities and his work started to resemble GG’s.

He found his own style one day in his room; he decided to make a collage and paint over it. He then began showing it to people and for the first time people started to see TLA in the artwork and not GG. TLA draws inspiration from social problems, people, hip-hop culture, and music. Some artists he is inspired by are GG, Typo, Justin Bua, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In a matter of six months TLA has been able to do more than some artist have been able to in over ten years. Out of 80 artists 8 were chosen to be a part of the Pop-up Pianos Miami and TLA was one of them. He has also done Photoshop for Raider Klan. He also gave ODD future a painting and because of that he met Denzel Curry, whom he then did a photo shoot with months later. He has also been in two public instalions at Surfside and Midtown. He has been commissioned a piece from Surfside. TLA has a custom table shown on Miami Newtown’s Magazine displayed in the Wynwood Cigar Factory. He collaborated with Deltoro Shoes for the opening of the Art BaselCritique. After Basel he noticed how his work could improve and is going to start working on conceptual urban artwork. He has done several showcases with Stephen Gamson, Jngol, Ruben Ubiera, GG, and Alex Yanes.

TLA is currently working on a skateboard with the company Simple Skateboards. He is also working o the upcoming Cashis Stone album that should be dropping sometime in the early summer. In the future, he would like to get more shows and get a studio space in Miami. He also has a few collaborations in the works and is going to curate his own show in the spring. He is also working on a piece for Locks of Love for one of their upcoming events.

TLA says, “My paint brush and my spray cans are my mic and my mixer. Two different worlds but with the same goals to spread the message. The message is the truth.“